lump of pines. The Indian, brushing against a branch, had relieved it of its weight of snow, and its dark green foli

hough he didn't hear us we must still know whence

oing on straight to the river, where the water fell in cascades over a wide series of low, broken reefs. From there the trail foll

l valley. At the edge of the water the snow was all trampled down, and the prints of bare feet in it showed that the man had been wadi

d very soft. Both the Kootenays and the Flatheads make the

think he came

ans winter down along their big lake. Very little

we find his trail to this place coming s

n exclaimed. "Come on! We

plainly it could be seen from several points along the way. It was a wonder

my partner exclaimed. "They caused h

to the ground, where evidently the man had searched for the pipestone ledge that was probably exposed somewhere near. Failing to find it, he

the place. Going back to the deadfall, we took out the fisher, but did not reset the trap; for we determined not to go thereafter within several miles of the pipestone fa

ps we were ever watching places where a foe might be lying in wait. Pitamakan said that the only thing for us to do was to make strong medicine. Accordingly, he

the white man would say, in February. At the end of the next moon, then,-in March,-spring would come on the plains. Up where we were, however, the snow would last much longer-probably until May

you say, the pass cannot be c

" he replied, "the Two Medicine pass. Ther

out of here!" I exclai

from the low country where the Kootenays and Flatheads winter. We

"Why can't we go straight south

ghed g

rail that crosses over to the Two Medicine. I could not recognize the right one when we came to it, and we should follow up one after another, and wear ourselves out. I remember some landmarks only where the right trail leaves

ass," I proposed. "It may not be so bad as you think. Pe

ep, settled snow, we were not long in covering the distance to the Salt Springs. Up and down the mountainside, all round them, was a perfect network of goat trails in the snow, and here and there were large and small groups of the strange, uncou

o pieces. One old billy-goat was almost human in the way in which he got over difficult places. After standing on his hind legs and gathering all the lichen within reach he concluded to ascend to the next s

r us, there was scarce a breath stirring that day. The snow was so hard-packed by the wind that when we removed our snowshoes, our moccasined feet left no impressions

The steep slide where my horse and I had so nearly been lost was buried deep in snow; towering above it were heavy, greenish, concave drifts of snow clinging to the knife-edge wall and likely to topple over at any moment. Our weigh

oss," said Pitamakan. "

e night, made sure that no one had been near it during our absence, and after building a good fire

s my belief that the predatory as well as the herbivorous ani

Red Eagle Valley, swung round northward along the back-bone of the Rockies to the Swift Current Waters, and thence down across the outlet again. Observation of other animals also leads me to believe that they all have their h

snow into large, loose, water-saturated grains which would give way every few steps and let us down clear to the ground, often in places where the snow was

early morning, when the snow was covered with so hard a crust

There were in all sixty-one marten, ten fisher, seventeen mink, five wolverene, one mountain-lion, eight lynx, and two otter skins. Fortunately, there was little weight in all that number, and we bound them so compactly that there was li

able so long as we could have fire, and of that we were assured. However, Pitamakan did not intend that the bag should be wasted; almost the last thing that he did w

mehow, as we sat by the fire, we did not feel like talking. To go away and leave the little home to

e packs, we started away down the valley. There was certainly a lump in my throat as I turned for a last

but after that time it became so hard that, taking off our snowshoes a

wo a branch came into the river, which we were obliged to ford, for the ice had gone out of the streams. It was no f

t than ever. Once one tore its way to the valley just behind us. Not an hour later, Pitamakan's pack-thong broke, and let his

y not far below us. "Come! Get up!" I cr

o strike either where we are, or close behind us," Pitamakan answ

him in my turn and pulling the other way. "It is comi

erous sound-the grinding of rocks and ice, the crashing and snapping of great trees. The avalanche came nearer with terrific speed, until fina

t trees began to leap out and downward from the steep mountain-side, and then the mass of the avalanche burst into the flat and piled up a hundred feet deep before us-a di

he burst in

right," I said. "It

what saved us. I am sure that the gods caused the pack-thong to break an

gh piles of brush and broken branches. At the apex of the heap Pitamakan reached down, pulled something from the earth-stained

ened to us if my pack-thong h

y goats perish in th

s, when they first come out in the spring, get their living from these slides. They tr

ned lodge looked twenty miles distant. The valley here was fully a mile wide, and the mountains bordering it were covered with pines clear to the summit. They were not more than a thou

s the crust was getting weak, we kept going, although very tired. During the two hours that we were able to travel after sunrise, we passed great numbers of elk, and not a few moose, and when, finally

w and drill started a little fire and roasted some dry meat. The sun shone warm

fter daybreak suddenly passed the snow-line and stepped into green-sprouting grass. The summer birds had come, a

complexioned!) he cried gleefully. "Oh, no, little y

t it could not be far in that direction to the big lake, but Pitamakan said that it was way off to the southwest, perhaps two days

from the white, onion-shaped root. "Dig! Dig! See, there are

and our systems needed. We made a meal of them right there. For once hunger got the better of our caution. Laying down our pac

mewhere for the day," I said finally. "I

I want a few more,"

and as we sat staring and wondering what had startled them, three Indians came riding like the wind r

of C